MSK Prasad, former India wicketkeeper-batsman and chief selector of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), was disappointed with the fact that none of the selectors were given credit for India’s stupendous performance in Australia earlier this year.
Earlier this year, Team India, with virtually a second-string side, thrashed Australia in their country to win the historic Test series and then defeated England at home to book their spot in the World Test Championship final.
Prasad, who was the selection committee chairman from 2016 to 2020, believes that if the Indian cricket team wins the hearts and makes the country proud, there is a great share of the national selectors and they should be acknowledged for the team’s performances and success.
As nobody credited the national selectors for India's once-in-a-generation win, the former chief selector has pointed out they are the first ones to be criticized when the team doesn't do well, but when the team does well they never get the credit for their behind the scenes work.
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Prasad has explained his point by citing the example of an incident when Farokh Engineer claimed to have seen Indian selectors getting cups of tea for Anushka Sharma, wife of Indian captain Virat Kohli, during the World Cup 2019 and MSK Prasad-led selection panel were called a “Mickey Mouse selection committee”.
Prasad told Cricket Monthly, “When one of our selectors offers a cup of coffee to the Indian team's captain's wife, it becomes a big controversy, but when the Indian team with seven Indian superstars missing wins a Test series against Australia in Australia, not even once that credit was given to selectors.”
The former chief selector also noted that the acknowledgment from the team management is the biggest reward for the selectors even when others forget to give them any credit for the Indian cricket team's success, as they know what we have done.
He signed off by saying, “The team management's acknowledgment is the satisfaction. Those on the outside, whether they accept it or not, the inner circle knows what we have done.”
